Improved machine for capping screw-heads



UNITED STATES PATENT GEEIcE.

ELI J. MANVILLE, OF WATERBURY, AND EDWARD M. J UDD, OF WOLCOTT- VILLE, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CAPPING SCREW-HEDS.

- Speciiieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 69,230, dated September 24, 1867.

To all rtbhom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ELI J. MANVILLE, of NVaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, and EDWARD M. J UDD, of Volcottville,-in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Capping Screw- Heads; and we do hereby declare the following' to be a full, clear, and exact description of the Y said invention, reference being had to the annexed drawing', making part of this specification, wherein- Figure l is a plan of our improved machine. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, and Fig. 3 is a section of the clamping-die that holds the screw.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

Screws have heretofore been made with a sheet-metal cap over the iron screw-head. The iron head has been nicked, and then a slotted cap has been put over the same, with the slot corresponding to the screw-nick, and closed in by dies.

Our invention relates t0 a machine that receives the screw, turns it so that the nick in the head stands in one direction, clamps the screw rmly while the sheet-metal cap is being put on, and then presents the same to be sawed or cut through to correspond with the previously-cut nick in the screw-head. By this means the nick is made only through the sheet-metal cap, and the machine is adapted to the capping of any kind of screw already manufactured, the dies only having' to be changed according to the size and shape of the screw and head.

In the drawing, a is the bed of the machine. bis the main shaft, driven by compe-tent power. c is a hollow stud or gudgeon, affixed at its lower end to the cross-piece c', and carryinga sleeve, d, at the upper en'd of which sleeve is the die holding disk c, and at the lower end the ratchet-wheel j', having as many teeth as there are dies in the disk e for the screws, /so that said disk e may, by the agency of a pawl acted upon by a lever and slide-rod, e', and

cam, f', be moved around progressively to present the screws to the successive operations. The disk e is formed with a circular range of holes near its periphery, and at suitable distances apart, into which holes the dies 'i are introduced, each one being of the proper size and shape for receiving the screw to be capped; and g g are clamping-slides, standing radially around the disk e, with their ends passing into openings in the sides of the dies i, so as to reach and hold the screw when said slides g are projected, or allow the screw to be entered or withdrawn when the said slides g are retracted or relieved from pressure.

A cam, IL, is fastened tightly upon the upper end of the stationary gudgeon c, which cam h, acting upon the slides g, causes them to clamp the screws in the dies 1'., and retain them firmly during the capping and nicking operations, after which the slides are released and the screws taken out. The screws are fed in near the front of the machine by hand or otherwise; and k is a screw-driver, that is set in a standard, k', and has a vertical movement given to it by the arm and slide l, acted upon by the lever Zl and cam Z2, for lifting the screwdriver out of the nick of one screw and holding` it up while the disk e is moved forward, and lowering the same upon the next screwhead. The screw-driver Itis revolved to acervtain point and stopped, so that the screwdriver will turn the :nick of the screw to a definite position, and, rising, allow the screw to be moved forward and clamped, as aforesaid, its nick standing in the proper position.

I make use of a shaft, m', passing up through the hollow stationary gudgeon c, at the upper end of which shaft is a segment, m, gearing to a pinion, n, on the shaft ofthe screw-driver k. At the lower end of this shaftm is an arm, nl, and link to a slide-rod, a2, that is acted upon by the cam a3 on the shaft b. By this means the screw-driver is rotated to turn the screw, and then stopped ata given point to leave the nick of the screw -in the correct position. The screw is next clamped by the slide g aforesaid, and a blank cap, in the proper form, (see section, Fig. 4,) is laid over the head and carried under the closing-die o, that presses the sheetmetal cap closely upon the screw-head; and the shape of the surface of the diez' is such that the edges of the sheet-metal cap are bent under and closed in around the base of the screw-head.

The die 0 is mounted upon an adjustable stock, o, in a slide, p, that is in a standard, p; and said slide p has a horizontal slot, in which is an eccentric pin or roller at the end of the shaft within thestandard p', (see dotted lines;) and q q are initergears, to give motion to the parts, so as to actuate the die o. The screws are earried around successively beneath the cutter r, that is set in a standard, s, and revolved by a belt and pulley, T'. rlhe standard s is iitted in slides, and raised by the lever s and cam t at the time the bed or disk c is being moved, and then lowered to allow the cutter to cut through the sheetmetal cap of the screw presented below it. It is to be understood that the screwdriver 7c is moved to such a point by the mechanism that turns it that the nick of the screw coincides with the cutter 1' when it reaches said cutter; hence the cutter has only to act upon the sheet-metal cap.

The disk c may be accurately adjusted toits position each progressive movement by means of a fork slid up bya cam and taking suecessively the dies fi, the fork passing each side 1 of the cylindrical portion of said die z, that projects below therdisk e, grasping the same.

What we claim, and desire tol secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of a series of progressively-moving dies for holding the screw, dies for pressing a cap of sheet metal over the head, and mechanism for nicking the sheet-metal cap to correspondwith the previously-eut nick in the screw-head, all constructed and operating substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of mechanism, substair tiallyY as specified, for effecting the following successive operations, viz: first, placing the nicked screw-head in the proper position; seeond, holdin g the same; third, pressing a sheetmetal cap upon the head; fourth, nicking the sheet-metal cap in a position to correspond with the previously-nieked head.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our signatures this 27th day of March, A. D. 1867.

ELI J. MANVlLLE. E. M. JUDD. Witnesses:

ANsoN F. ABBOTT, BURTON G. BRYAN. 

